One Season in Tampa

Bryan Hodgson spent exactly one year at South Florida. In that year, he delivered the most successful season in program history: a 25-8 record, the American Conference regular-season and tournament championships, and a return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. He was named Conference Coach of the Year. Then he took a phone call from Providence and left for the Big East.

Hodgson, 38, is a Nate Oats disciple — five years on Oats's staff at Alabama as lead recruiter during a stretch that included a Final Four. Before that, Buffalo with Oats. Before South Florida, he built Arkansas State into a 25-win program. The pattern — arrive, win immediately, attract a bigger job — is the Oats tree in action.

Why Providence, Why Now

The Friars fired Kim English after one season, making Hodgson the second consecutive Providence coach to last exactly one year. Providence offered a five-year contract and more than $10 million in NIL resources, per CBS Sports — putting the Friars in the upper tier of Big East spending.

Providence is not hiring Hodgson to run the same program Ed Cooley built over 11 grinding years. They are hiring him to build something faster, louder, and more expensive — a portal-driven roster funded by NIL money that competes with UConn, Creighton, and Marquette for the conference's top tier.

South Florida's Loss, Chris Mack's Gain

Hodgson's departure created its own domino. South Florida immediately hired Chris Mack — the former Louisville and Xavier head coach out of coaching since 2022. Mack inherits a program Hodgson built from nothing in 12 months.

The Oats coaching tree now includes head coaches at Cincinnati, Providence, and multiple mid-major programs. The tree is spreading faster than the trunk can grow.

Hodgson's Gamble

Providence is a different animal than South Florida. The Big East is deeper, the expectations are higher. Ed Cooley built a program that made six NCAA Tournaments in 11 years before leaving for Georgetown. Kim English couldn't maintain it. Now Hodgson — who has never coached in a power conference — must prove the Oats playbook translates.

He has $10 million in NIL, a five-year contract, and the recruiting Rolodex from five years at Alabama. What he doesn't have is time. Providence fired his predecessor after one season. Hodgson needs to win immediately, which is the one thing his career suggests he knows how to do. The question is whether one year is long enough to build something, or only long enough to audition for something bigger.